For many manufacturers of electronic circuit products, the security of their design is a major concern. The design of an electronic circuit product is potentially time-consuming and expensive, and yet the information about the design is potentially vulnerable to interception by unauthorized third parties, who can use that information to make unauthorized copies of products.
This is a particular concern where the manufacture of the product is carried out by a different company from the company that owns the design. In such situations, the company owning the design has a particular vulnerability to the interception of the design information.